As readers here know, I am a big proponent of printing your work: a photo isn’t a photo until it is printed and framed and hung on your wall.

That said, web shares can make sense too. Like this one here, which I made in minutes using Lightroom:

The URL is http://www.mvwphoto.com/PrintSale/

So how do you do this in Lightroom?

The Lightroom part is easy. There are several ways, but here’s how I recommend you do it:

1. Make a collection of your intended photos.
2. Sort them into the order you like (that’s one reason you use a collection: you can sort in collections, but not in folders).
3. Go to the WEB module.
4. Select a starting layout on the left side.
5. Now tune that to your liking with the fields on the right side – they are pretty self-explanatory. Just see what each one does.
6. When done, EXPORT your site. I expert to my desktop, and I call it something meaningful, say “PrintSale”.

Now the more difficult bit. You need:

• A web site you manage.
• FTP access to that site (you need a username, and a password, and the ability to upload stuff to your site using that username and password).
• The ability to create directories in your site, which then will become added to the URL.
• An FTP client, such as Cyberduck. Which is free.

Ask your provider about this, quoting the stuff above, or direct them to this post.

I manage all my sites on 1and1.com, but there are many other excellent providers too.

So now you upload your new pages:

1. I start my FTP client (Cyberduck)
2. I log into my site using its URL and the FTP username and password.
3. I navigate, if needed, to my site’s root (basic) directory.
4. I now drop the afore-made folder (e.g. “PrintSale”) from my desktop onto the site.

And I am done! My site is http://www.mvwphoto.com, and when I upload the folder I just made, called “PrintSale”, I can now navigate to http://www.mvwphoto.com/PrintSale/!

This is one if Lightroom’s very cool features, so I recommend you get to know it. Or you upload to Flickr or Facebook, more about which in a future post – but then you get less control.

Two more notes:

Yes, I am doing a special print sale: Back to prints! Follow the URL and contact me if you want one of my works. Details and pricing also on www.michaelsmuse.com, but note, I have special pricing in the period leading up to Christmas.

I teach Lightroom in private coaching sessions, to beginners as well as to pro photographers. In a few hours you learn all you need to kickstart your productivity.

Why do most photographers use Lightroom now, instead of, say, Photoshop?

I think this is for several reasons. One: we are photographers. Photoshop is excellent for illustrators who spend all day on one image, we spend time shooting and getting it right in camera, broadly, and then having to deal with many images. This is one area in which Lightroom shines.

Second: LR is easy to learn.

Third: LR works the way you work. Not the other way around. Your files can be wherever you like. And so on.

Fourth: did I mention its speed when you are dealing with many images?

Look at this example of an image:

Needs perspective correction. So.. a trip to DEVELOP module, and within that the LENS CORRECTION pane, and in that, click on AUTO:

That instantly gets me this:

Wow.

Of course it does not always work this well, this quickly, but even when manual intervention is needed, it’s still very, very quick.

And it’s worth it. Lightoom is worth it in general but version 5.2 is worth it specifically. Why? Because it fixes some important bugs, some small issues, as well as introducing some new functionality that you will like.

The healing tool is better: it has optional feathering now and it samples from within the cropped area.

Full details on the adobe blog. But if you have Lightroom 5, go do the free upgrade now. These issues, bugs, and features are things that have actually affected me.

Today, a few more words about “post-production”.

I tend to pride myself on the fact that “I shoot in the camera”.But even then, there are things you can do “in post”, and that I feel fine in doing when I feel like it, because you cannot do them in the camera; or because in the past, you would choose a particular kind of film. And while you probably should not manipulate all your images, “pixels were born to be punished”, as Frederick Van Johnson says.

Take this recent nude:

That was lit simply and neutrally, with one or two flashes (one on the camera and one in an umbrella, if I recall correctly), so I can do all sorts of things with it. “Lighting it simply” is pretty much a requirement if I want the most options  open to me, so that is the way I shot it.

Now let’s see. Here it is in Black and White, with skin brightened (using the Lightroom HSL slider) to give a high-key image:

Or consider this, a gritty B/W look, with lots of film grain added as well – view it full size to see the effect:

Or this, a cold look:

Or this, an “oldfashioned” look:

Or this, a split toned look, straight out of the 1960s:

Those last four were built into Lightroom: a click is all you need. But you can do more yourself, and it is very simple. Like this desaturated look:

Or this rather Polaroid-like look:

I think I like the third image best – it suits the model’s look best in my opinion – but that is my opinion. I love the one before last, too. The point here is that all these are very different, and all good.

So before we take my “shoot in the camera” as mantra: what I really mean is: shoot in the camera as much as you can; i.e. do not use post production as a substitute for proper exposure and lighting. But beyond that: as long as you are not shooting news, alter what you like to get the art look you desire!

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Need to learn Lightroom? Consider a few private coaching sessions, during which I will get you started very quickly. We will set up your file storage strategy, get Lightroom all set up properly, and I’ll teach you what you need to know to get started immediately.